Played for both: Five Real Madrid and Schalke stars or flops

Gelsenkirchen club Schalke have been hugely consistent in their qualification for Europe’s elite club competition, the Champions League, making it in for four of the last five seasons.

As the hosts, 7/1 outsiders with Coral to qualify from their last 16 tie with holders Real Madrid, have a coach in Roberto Di Matteo that has lifted the trophy before, our experts began to wonder which famous names have turned out for both the Bundesliga boys and La Liga heavyweights?

We put our heads together and came up with five footballers, some hot and some not, that played for Schalke and at the Bernabeu. Read on and discover who we’ve chosen.

Hamit Altintop
This versatile Turkey international was born in Gelsenkirchen, but swapped Schalke for Bayern Munich in 2007. Altintop arrived and exited the Allianz on free transfers, with eyebrow-raising interest from Madrid four years later.

Moving to the Bernabeu didn’t work out for him, however, as he played just five times in La Liga under Jose Mourinho, so Altintop was sold to Galatasaray in 2012. Check out his only goal for Madrid below:

Raul Gonzalez
Here’s one Real icon that went on to turn out for Schalke too. Raul remains, for another season at least, Los Blancos’ all-time top scorer, but has Cristiano Ronaldo breathing down his neck with yet another prolific campaign from the Portuguese superstar.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Dutch hitman Huntelaar will be happy to know his domestic suspension with Schalke doesn’t apply to European games, so he is free to face his former club. Out of contract in Gelsenkirchen this summer, he should use this game as a platform to remind everyone what a great bosman buy he would be.

Huntelaar spent six months in Madrid in 2009, and still scored a respectable eight in 20 La Liga outings, but is widely considered to have flopped following a €20m move from Ajax. He grabbed a consolation goal in a 6-1 Real romp in this fixture last term, so is 8/1 to net last again, and 11/4 in the anytime market.

Relive highlights of that Madrid mauling here:

Chrsitoph Metzelder
Injuries ruined former Germany centre back Metzelder’s career, restricting him to just 23 La Liga appearances for Real in three seasons (2007-10). Making his name at Borussia Dortmund, he was in Schalke’s academy as a teenager, having grown up in nearby Haltern, and went on to return there in 2010.

Mesut Ozil
Arsenal playmaker Ozil cost a reported £42.4m (and Gunners record fee) to bring in from the Bernabeu on summer transfer deadline day in 2013. A Gelsenkirchen native, he scored just one for Schalke (2005-08) after coming through their ranks before going to to Werder Bremen (2008-10) and then Real (2010-13).